Tonight we will play the four — three power forwards who keyed their teams’ wins.
Third Star: Glen Davis (24 points, 6 rebounds)
A night after an emotional win in Los Angeles — don’t think for a second those Magic players didn’t enjoy beating and embarrassing Dwight Howard after standing up for him for years only to feel deserted — for Orlando to come back the next night with a win in Golden State is impressive. Big Baby was at the heart of it, scoring 24 and grabbing six rebounds. It was Davis’ second big game in a row and for much of the night the Warriors had no answer for him inside.
Second Star: LaMarcus Aldridge (25 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists)
Yes, he’s on the wrong end of the highlight of the night, but that should not define his night, either.
There are times when you are watching the Blazers when it seems the other four guys on the floor just forget LaMarcus Aldridge is the best player on the team and stop getting him the rock. That happened for a stretch in this game. But during the Blazers dramatic 18-point comeback — fear Luke Babbitt — Aldridge had six points on 3-of-4 shooting, but more importantly six rebounds, three offensive. Then in the OT Aldridge had another bucket and three more boards. He was at the heart of the comeback and had a line that reminds you he is an All-Star.
First Star: Blake Griffin (30 points, 11 rebounds)
Blake Griffin is off to a slow start this season — he has struggled in isolation sets, he is taking fewer shots at the rim and converting them at a lower percentage — but he seemed to break out of it against the Jazz with his biggest night of the season. What he seemed to be was aggressive again — he was getting transition buckets and dunks, he was making things happen with his crazy athleticism. Griffin gets criticism for not having a more rounded game — no steady outside shot, no go to move if you take the spin in the post away — but when he can do is run and jump and dunk and when he does those things he impacts the game. Like he did against Utah. It’s be nice to develop the Tim Duncan in his game, but that can’t come at the expense of him being Blake Griffin. Dunks aren’t just highlights, they are a very efficient two points.
